The Wild Hike: Part I

Beth stood beside the statue of the doe. She could hear voices and see firelight not too far away. Curious, she approached. As she emerged from the forest, she saw three women sitting around a fire. She recognized them. Mrs. Carter, her first grade teacher. Mama Jasper, an old lady who Beth’s mother sometimes spoke to while grocery shopping. And Tessa Gordon, a pretty girl she knew at school. The three women sat around the fire not speaking. Tessa saw Beth approaching and called out, “Ah, here’s another one dears.”

“Come, sit with us by the fire while you have time,” Mrs. Carter said.

“It is all you have,” said Mama Jasper.

Beth did as the women asked. She sat down between Tessa and Mrs. Carter. “Don’t I know you?” she asked.

“Of course you do,” answered Tessa.

“Occasionally,” answered Mama Jasper.

“Always,” answered Mrs. Carter.

As they answered, Beth noticed a fifth person sitting at the fire. It was a man wrapped in a large woolen blanket. Though he looked contrite, Beth thought she saw mischief in his eyes. “Who is he?”

“Him? He’s the lion in the hunter’s net.”

“All hissing and roaring like a storm in the void.”

“And we three in need of mice.”

Beth smiled. The women talked one after the other, but also all at once. She looked behind her to see a swirling blackness. It swallowed the mountains and rolled down across the forest. Beth turned her head to see it all around. The world was collapsing into void while they sat idle around the fire. “Aren’t you worried about that?” she asked the women.

“No. That’s not for us. It’s for you.”

“The drip, drop, drip of drink.”

“Swirls the mind down the sink.”

Beth nodded. She folded her hands in her laps to wait for the darkness to take her. The women, young and old, did the same. Mama Jasper’s head nodded to the beat of an unseen rhythm. The crackle of the fire snapped in Tessa’s eyes. Mrs. Carter stared at Beth with warm, motherly affection. “Why am I here?” Beth asked.

“Because you came here,” Mama Jasper said.

“Because you are here,” Mrs. Carter said.

“Because you will come here,” Tessa said.

“That’s not very helpful,” Beth mused with a shrug.

“We are not helpful,” the three said together.

“Sometimes we are the road sign which gives you the direction you seek.”

“Other times, we are the sunlight glinting off the pathway’s stones, allowing them to be found.”

“Other times still, we are shadow, cloaking one path in favor of another.”

They spoke together again, “And often we re all three at once.”

“Should we tell her, sisters?” one said.

“She will certainly need to know,” another said.

“She will forget,” said the third.

Beth waited as they spoke, watching instead the strange man sitting quietly in the shadows. “Excuse me, who are you?” she asked him.

Mama Jasper spat in the fire, “He cannot speak. He cannot hear. He is lucky to think at all.”

“He wants you to free him, or, at least, he wants to be freed.”

Tessa put her hand on Beth’s shoulder. “Careful, he is dangerous and sly.”

“Is he your prisoner?” Beth asked.

The three women all laughed. “No more than any other.”

“Old men snared him. Stones in their eyes. Caught him up like a rabbit.”

“Old men don’t last. Neither do young. Hah. Neither do their snares. Neither do stones.”

The rumbling darkness grew near. Beth felt as though she should ask the women some important question, but she couldn’t find what it was. Instead, she asked plainly, “Is there something you wanted to tell me?”

The three turned their heads all at once. Tessa leaned close to Beth’s ear and whispered, “You are a mouse.”

Darkness overtook her, and Beth lapsed into dreamless sleep.

Jessie woke up feeling like she’d gotten too drunk and slept in the middle of a forest. She was also freezing, offset somewhat by Beth clinging to her. Gently, she rolled out from underneath her friend and crawled out of the tent. Liam sat on a log by the rekindled fire. Before he noticed her, he was slumped and holding his head in a dour state. Once he saw Jessie, he sat up and smiled, even if it pained him. She stepped over the log and took a seat. “Is that coffee?”

“Yeah, no creamer or anything,” Liam answered. He pulled out a small tin cup from his bag, poured, and passed it over to Jessie. “Might have gotten a little carried away last night. Shouldn’t have. Someone could have gotten hurt or —”

Jessie swallowed down the lukewarm, incredibly strong coffee. “Hey, we had fun. That’s why we came out here. Don’t worry so much. Have you checked on David?”

“Oh, sure, he was up before me. Looked like death, but that didn’t seem to slow him down. He carried in about three armfuls of wood, and I think he’s off puking in the woods now. How’s Beth?”

“Sleeping it off. I think she drank the least. She wanted to stay clear headed in case you made your move.”

“Sorry?” Liam said, new tension in his shoulders.

“You know, tell her you love her, or ask to go steady, or whatever people do to take the jump from wherever you are now to the point where you’re always at our apartment eating my cereal. Honestly, I don’t know how you do that part. All my boyfriends have been guys I woke up with one morning and decided they were worth keeping around for a few months. You know you can do that right? You can tell Beth you want to fuck her, maybe jazz it up some. ‘Make love to her’. Gross.” Jessie drained the coffee and handed the cup back to Liam. He’d turned his eyes to the fire and wouldn’t look up at her. Jessie stood up and started to go back into her tent, but couldn’t leave him moping. “Look, ignore me. I’m hung over and grouchy. Take your time. Figure it out your own way. I’m sure you two will…ah, fuck it. Which way did David go?”

Liam pointed toward the north, and Jessie set off in that direction. Her headache throbbed in time with her heartbeat, but the shot of coffee cleared some of the haze from her thoughts. The cool air in her lungs helped, too. She told herself walking would help loosen the tightness in her muscles from the previous day’s long hike and the night spent in a mangle of limbs on the hard ground. Her ears caught the sound of snapping limbs nearby, and she shifted her direction to follow the swath David had cut through the underbrush. She spotted him in a mangle of trees caused by a storm. David picked through the shattered remains of trunks and limbs, creating a pile of broken wood. His shirt was damp from the morning moisture and sweat. He wasn’t muscular, but he was solidly built and clearly had more strength than his lack of definition would imply. Jessie found herself thinking of pulling him into the tent with her several times the previous night, but that had been the booze talking. Now, she wondered if she’d seen something a little more true through the haze of alcohol. David was cute, after all. Till he opened his mouth and started rambling on about inane bullshit. “Hey,” she called.

His head turned around, and he suppressed a sneer. “Morning. Liam got the breakfast cooked yet?”

“Coffee. I didn’t see him making anything else.” Jessie drifted over closer to him and crossed her arms to watch him work. “What’cha doing?”

“Sweating out the booze,” David answered, returning his attention to an old tree trunk. He grabbed hold of one of the limbs and snapped it off with little difficulty. “Most of this stuff is so old it doesn’t hold water any more. Feel free to take that pile back to the camp.”

“No, thanks. Happy to let you do all the…well, all of this.”

“So, you came to bother me?”

“No, I came to get away from the melancholy leader of our merry band. We’ll all be better off once the other two fuck and get it over with.”

David paused and smirked at her. “The rare occasion on which we agree.”

Jessie liked his smile. She didn’t like that she liked his smile. That’s the booze talking. No one actually likes David. “You’re his friend. Maybe we can broker some kind of agreement. Or at least give them the ice picks to get through the ice between them. Beth is all in, I think. What’s your guy’s hold up?”

“He’s a virgin,” David said as he hurled a wet hunk of wood back into the trees.

“No shit. But he dated that Victoria chick for like three years?”

“Longer than that. They started dating senior year of high school. She kept him on a leash for almost four years and never let him get any further than second base. He didn’t mind because he didn’t know any better. Kept thinking it was going to be even better once they finally did it. He even thought about asking her to marry him a few times.”

Jessie moved closer to David and perched on a fallen tree. “He wanted to marry her just so she’d sleep with him?”

“So she’d do anything. Like I said, second base. I think he got to touch her tits a few times. In the end, she broke up with him after a girl crawled all over him at a bar one night. Called him all kinds of stuff, damned him to Hell, and ran out. So then, he finds a new girl to obsess over, but he can’t just get drunk and sleep with her. Noooo, he has to drag us all off into the barren fucking wilderness so he can work up the courage to give her a kiss on the cheek.”

“Beth isn’t much better. She’s waiting for him to sweep her off her feet or tell her his true feelings or some nonsense. I’m with you. See someone you want, get drunk, fuck. What could be simpler.”

David paused and looked at Jessie. She figured she looked terrible. Hungover, no makeup, and no shower. Still, the damp air made her t-shirt cling nicely, and her shorts showed off more thigh than not. Jessie imagined she had some allure as a vixen of the natural world. They both imagined her bent over the fallen tree she was sitting on. We’d need a blanket or something, though, Jessie thought. Not scraping my stomach all to shit so that I can get a look at David’s cock. I don’t care how hungover horny I am. She shifted to give him a better look at her breasts, but realized he wasn’t looking at her at all. His eyes were on the edge of the clearing, and the color had drained from his face. “What?”

“Over there,” he pointed. From the shadows of the wood, a wolf stepped out. Its head was low, and the fur along its back up. David grabbed a nearby sturdy branch as Jessie moved over to him.

“Is that a fucking wolf? Jesus.”

“More than one,” David said. “Over there and over there. Three.”

Jessie looked and saw the other two, loping quietly on either flank of the wolf advancing toward them. She lowered her voice to a harsh whisper, “David, what do we do? Do you have gun or something?”

“Yeah, Jess, I’ve been hiding a gun in my pocket, but figured I wanted a fair fight with the pack of fucking wolves.”

“We should run!”

“No,” he barked. “Wolves hunt things that run. We stand our ground. Look big. Make it not worth their effort. Grab that stick, stand up tall. Don’t whisper.” He squared himself and set his gaze between the center wolf and the one to its left. “Hey! Fuck off! We’re not a free breakfast!” He whacked the stick on the fallen tree. The lead wolf shrank back slightly. “Throw shit at them.”

“What? That’ll piss them off!” Jessie said.

“No, it won’t,” David yelled. “Animals hunt risk versus reward. We make the risk higher than the reward, and they’ll piss of to find a damn rabbit or something. Now throw shit at them. Anything you can pick up. Bonus if you actually hit them. We throw shit and back away. Get back to the campsite. Four of us are definitely not worth the fight.”

The resolve in his voice put down any doubt and calmed most of her fear. She hurled the small stick in her hand at the lead wolf. It landed wide, but the wolf paused its approach and dropped its head a little lower. Jessie grabbed another and flung it toward the wolf on the right. It let out a yelp as the branch hit it in the back leg. The lead wolf stopped its approach and turned to the side. David kept yelling and slamming the stick on anything that would make noise. Then, without much drama, the wolves dropped their leering posture, standing up straight. They whimpered at one another before slipping off into the forest at a trot. David kept up the showboating for a few more long minutes, but finally stopped.

Jessie stayed close to him, one arm pressed against his back. As the adrenaline subsided, weakness spread over her. She thought she might pass out, but David kept her sturdy. “Alright,” he said. “We should head back. Nothing stopping them from trying again. There’s…hang on.”

They both heard it. A thwishing and cracking sound of something moving fast through the woods. A wolf erupted from the forest, barreling down at them at an amazing speed. This wasn’t any of the three from before. This wolf was huge, solid black, with gleaming golden eyes. It showed no sign of stopping, either. Jessie threw the stick she still held, but missed. David readied the stick in his hands, “Run! Now!” He pushed Jessie back from him and charged forward. He swung with all his might, cracking the stick against the wolves flank as it leapt at him. Claws raked down David’s chest as teeth sunk into his forearm. David bellowed in pain.

Jessie didn’t run. She grabbed another branch and swung it down on the wolf’s back with all her strength. The branch shattered, but the wolf didn’t even seem to notice. David held it at bay with its teeth buried in his arm. His other hand came around to punch the wolf anywhere he could land a hit. Jessie didn’t know what else to do. She looked for something sharp. If a blunt hit wouldn’t do anything, she could at least stab the damned beast in its ribs. Right as she found something that might work as a shiv, a loud boom echoed through the clearing.

The wolf broke off its bite, hopping back with ease. It laughed. Jessie couldn’t exactly believe her ears, but she was certain the beast looked at the two of them and laughed a gleeful, pleased laugh.. It trotted off at its eerie speed, vanishing into the woods where all the others had gone. She gawked at it for a few seconds until David’s groans drew her attention. She moved to him and looked at his arm. The flesh was mangled and bloody. The bite had taken a few chunks of skin out, but most of his arm was still in tact. “Get my shirt off,” David said through clenched teeth. “Need to compress the bleeding.”

“What about like a tourniquet?” she asked as she helped pull his shirt off. Part of it was soaked with blood and the sleeve was slightly ripped already.

“No, that would cause my arm to fall off. And I don’t think that’s necessary. Listen to me, ok? I was an eagle scout.”

“Why didn’t you fucking say that earlier?” She wrapped the shirt around his arm as tight as she could. He took hold of the last bit, pulled it tight, and held it. “Come on, get up. We need to get back to the others. Maybe Liam brought a first aid kit or something. Right? Or should I leave you here?”

“No, I can walk. I’d rather not hang around in case whatever the fuck that thing was decides to come back.”

Beth stumbled out into the brilliant morning sun. Liam crouched over the fire halfheartedly cooking something that made Beth’s stomach churn. She had already gulped down all the water she could find. “Oh, morning.” The two canteens clanged against each other in her hands.

“Morning,” Liam said, managing to smile. “Looking for fresh water? About ten yards into the woods over that direction. Clean stream. Perfect little waterfalls clear of any sediment.” He turned his attention back to the fire, and Beth moved toward the stream when the scream cut across the forest. Liam hopped to his feet. “Which direction? Could you tell?”

Beth’s heart sank. “Was that David? God, it sounded horrible.”

“He went that way when he left. Jessie is with him. Come on.” Liam dumped a jug of coffee on the fire, grabbed his pack, and ran. Beth didn’t know what to do other than follow him. She dropped the canteens and scurried along in Liam’s wake. They were moving for a barely a minute before a loud boom brought them to a stop. “The fuck was that?”

Beth looked up at the sky as though it had been thunder, but it hadn’t. It hadn’t come from the sky at all, or at least, not only from the sky. The boom had been all around them. Underneath, above, behind, and in front, like some great turning of a switch resounding throughout the forest. “One horrifying forest noise at a time, maybe?” Liam nodded, and they hurried on the small path Jessie and David had made. They heard the other two before they saw them, David’s cursing and groans as well as Jessie’s cursing and yelps of worry. David was on his feet, his arm a bloody mess wrapped in his shirt. He had several red welts running down his chest as well. Jessie, at least, seemed unharmed. “What happened?” Liam and Beth blurted out together.

“A goddamn wolf,” Jessie shouted back. “They might still be waiting for us, too. We need to go.”

“You got attacked by wolves?” Beth asked, her mind still processing possibilities other than the truth. She considered them cooking up a prank or a hoax to go home. Anything made more sense than a wolf attack. That’s not something that actually happens.

“A wolf,” David said, wincing as Liam looked at his wound. “Some kind of crazy fucking thing that looked half demon.”

Liam dropped his bag to the ground and pulled out a small kit. “Antiseptic, this will sting.”

“Not more than the teeth through my arm, I’d bet.” Still, David winced as the spray covered his arm.

Liam talked as he worked to clean and wrap the wound. “Could have been worse. Mostly punctures, not much tearing, and a lot less bleeding than I’d expect. They’re deep though. We’ll need to get to the hospital. Which means we’ll have to hike down to the ranger station we passed on the way up. Think you can manage that?”

David nodded. “Can’t say I’m thrilled to hang out in the woods with whatever that monster was. Maybe its the shock talking, but I’m pretty sure that was a hellhound or something worse.”

“What’s he talking about?” Beth asked Jessie. “What happened?”

Jessie recounted the events leading up to the attack. “And when we heard that boom, it ran off. Must have scared it.”

“You heard that, too? Any idea what it was?”

“No,” Jessie said. “But…and this sounds crazy, but I think it made the wolf laugh. But like, a happy laugh?”

“Yep,” David said, getting back to his feet. “That does sound crazy.” His arm was fully wrapped in white cloth slowly turning red in a few spots. “Thanks. Still hurts like a motherfucker.”

“Hope the bleeding stops. Otherwise, you’re going to have bigger problems. Once we start the walk to the ranger station, the second you feel lightheaded, let me know. You’re already dehydrated from last night. Sun, blood loss, and physical activity are —”

“Did you ever make breakfast?” David asked. He took a long, deep breath through his nose. “I’m starving.”

Liam looked at the girls who shrugged. “Yeah, some food wouldn’t be a bad idea. You can eat while we grab what we need. We won’t wait to break down the whole campsite. We’ll hike down and come back on an ATV to get the rest of the stuff. Ready?”

The short march back to the campsite went without incident. Jessie spent the whole walk huddled close beside Beth. Beth did catch her friend staring at the broad back of the shirtless David as they walked. For his part, David refused help from anyone, claiming he barely felt any pain. Beth wanted to chastise him for being foolish. Liam was right. They had a long way to go before David could get any real medical help. His bravado would only worsen the situation. Liam remained calm and composed, though when he did speak to give instructions, they were terse.

The plan developed as they walked. Beth would refill everyone’s water for the hike and gather up the transportable food. David would rest and eat. Jessie and Liam would secure the tents and pack up anything they didn’t want to leave behind. Once they reached the camp, they all set to their tasks without prompt, working quietly to ensure a speedy exit. Within thirty minutes, everyone but David had their pack ready. On his insistence, David carried a small bag over his shoulder. The tents were sealed and properly staked. None of them seemed too optimistic of finding them undisturbed whenever they got a chance to return. They headed back toward the bridge, wondering when they would have time to get back. Liam suggested the girls go with David to the hospital while he went back for their gear. Beth didn’t think he could get everything out on his own, especially with a monster wolf prowling around. But that would be an argument for when they had David somewhere safe.

Once the adrenaline wore off, the prospect a several mile hike weighed on them all heavily. All except for David. Beth thought he seemed in high spirits for someone in potentially mortal danger. “Shock and blood loss can cause a sort of euphoria,” Liam explained. “It’s not a good sign.” They made their way back through the forest trail, passing the odd statues one at a time. Already tired and frantic, none of them wanted to linger and examine the stone animals again. As they neared the wolf statue, they heard a new sound, the roar of water. “Oh, fuck.”

They emerged on the new bank of the river. Water churned and rushed down from the mountains, at least ten feet higher than it had been the previous day. The four of them gawked at the sight. Liam finally spoke. “There’s a dam about ten miles up. Not a big one. Only meant for flood control.”

Jessie shook her head. “I don’t understand. Where’s the bridge? It barely even rained last night!”

“Not here, but up the mountain it poured,” David said, his words punctuated by a slight giggle. “Lots of rain up the mountain. Big flood down the mountain. Your bridge is somewhere down state by now.”

Beth could feel the anxiety building up in her extremities. She wanted to move or run or do something. “Liam, now what? How do we get across?”

“I don’t think we do,” he said. “Not today. Closest crossing is another ten miles south. Or further, I’m not sure where we are.” He clapped his hands. “Ok, new plan. Back to the camp. We gather our stuff, move it down here so we’re closer to the river and can keep an eye on it. If the dam broke like I think, rangers might have crews going out to check on crossings like this one or just surveying for damage. David, you’re going to stay here with Jessie while Beth and I hike back for our tents. No arguing. Stay in the shade, drink water, and eat what you need. We have plenty of food. Once you’re back in your right head, you can help me hunt or something if we need to.”

“I’m really fine,” David insisted. “Feel great, considering.”

“Whatever,” Liam said. “We’ll rest a few minutes before we head back. We get the girls’ tent first. Then Beth can stay while Jessie and I go back for the rest.”

“You’re putting a lot on your own shoulders, aren’t you?” Jessie asked, earning a scowl from Beth. “What? You and I are dead weight here. If he passes out in the woods, we’re all screwed.”

“I appreciate the concern, but I’ll be fine.” Liam slung his pack off his back and dropped it by a nearby tree. “This spot is as good as any. You two get comfortable. Beth, clean out your pack of anything you don’t need for the walk. Water, I guess.”

Beth grabbed his arm to stop him. “Liam, what about the wolf? What if it…followed us? What if its still tracking them?”

“We’ll be alright. Whatever spooked the wolf in the first place is likely to keep it away.”

“You’d think.” David tossed the bag he’d carried to the ground beside the wolf statue. He sat down against the stone base and looked up. David grinned and laughed. “Can’t seem to get away from the damn things. Go on then, get to it. I’m not less likely to die if you’re standing there.”

Jessie paled, “He’s kidding, obviously. Right? He’s not in danger of dying? Is he?”

“No, no. I won’t die. Not before these bite wounds fester into boiling gangrenous pus anyway. If we get to that, we can try cutting it off to save my life which will probably kill me. Or maybe I have rabies. Plenty to look forward to.”

“He’s kidding,” Liam said flatly. “We’ll hurry.”